ColinB

I usually remove the capacitor across Hornby motors as I had one go short circuit which took out the decoder, I never bother on other makes. I agree it shouldn't make any difference but in some cases it seems to. I can think of a couple of reasons it might cause issues, but on the other hand I can think of a reason why it should make it better. Who knows? I noticed on my J15 DC adapter, it had them fitted to the circuit board, so perhaps when you replace the header they disappear.

I had a really old Triang turntable which used the old grey track, I bought it because it looked more like a turntable than the current Hornby one did. Anyway it fell off the workbench when I was trying for the upteenth time to get the motor to work properly, it literally exploded into pieces.

I have just fitted one to a J15, it seems to be ok. There does seem to be a bit of an issue with all TTS decoders, everytime I mention the ones I have had issues with, people on this site give me a hard time. Generally, electronics is very reliable, so I don't know if the components they fit are a bit marginal coupled with some software that is not error tolerant, but I would only be speculating. I have just read your latest post, when mine fail, I just mail them tell them it has failed and ask for a return number. I don't tell them where I got it from it is only when I return it with the returns number that I send a copy of the original receipt. I returned the one I bought from the model shop in Malta without any receipts, for obviouse reasons. There are enough Hornby Dealers on Ebay that probably are not going to give you a receipt. I suspect that they are beginning to realise that they have a big warranty issue on these products so are trying to reduce their liability. Go buy another decoder off EBay for another one of your locos and get a generic receipt, then you can return it.

To be quite honest it is an issue with plastic. It is like car bumpers they work perfectly ok when the car is new. Give it about 5 years and they literally explode when they hit anything. Similarly these plastic things that clip together, again after a few years the clips just break off. It is like trying to get a ringfield motor out of an old Hornby Tender, you have to be so careful. The thing we don't sometimes realise with Continental manufacturers is that they are under the same cost constrants as the UK ones, so they will save money where they can, so if they can make track out of a cheaper material they will.

I have a similar collection of Peco streamline. I keep some of the older ones that are roughly still there for if I need to plan changes to the layout. The flexible track is even worse, if it has been down for a while it retains the shape you bent it to. To be fair to Hornby I have loads of their early track someone gave me years ago and that seems perfectly ok, but its plastic is much thicker and most of it is pre China. If you get the really old Triang stuff, that seems to be ok too, although you do have to be careful handling it.

You have bought the track now, so why don't you see if it is any good before dismissing it. Try it on dc before jumping into DCC, if the locos run badly then you will know. If it is steel track clean it with a non abrassive cleaner. Dirty track will have an effect on the DCC signal but I have found using different decoders some seem to be better at dealing with it than others and most decent modern locos have all wheel pickup which means they are are more tolerant to dirty track than the old ones used to be. Once you have figured what you want replace the track with decent stuff at your leisure. There are even different opinions as to what is decent track.

I must admit mine were down for 20 years and yes if you are very very careful, they might be reusable, but generally the base comes away from the rail, or the spring falls off. Mine is in the loft where it gets extremes of temperature, also having a PL10 hanging from it doesn't help. I must admit for the cost of them if the track is pretty old I replace them as a matter of course. Nothing is worse than putting all the track together and finding the point has fell apart, plus the newer points are better designed.

Well it did not sound like that to me. Actually when one dies that is my first thought "what did I do wrong", but just lately all I do is put the loco on the track and run it. After the HST failure I have even been going round making sure that they all have adequate airflow over them.

To be quite honest, I am sure their Dealers do already, it must cause those that repair locos a major headache. When I contacted one spares Supplier about parts for one of my locos I just got the opinion that they live in hope.

Great howbiman that is best piece of rubbish I have seen this year. I can tell you exactly how all of them have failed and yes I have owned up to killing a few, generally by not being careful enough. Now the ones that failed because the locos capacitor goes short circuit is that my fault, the one where the sound decides to switch off after one circuit is that my fault (in this case Ity was factory fitted), the one where it suddenly decides it will only do sound every 3rd or 4th power on. In actual fact when I think about it I don't think I have killed any of these, most have died when in the loco running along the track. They are normally insulated the only one I did kill by my fault was when I used one of those 21 pin to 8 pin adaptors which was too high. Generally most of my speculation comes from analysing the components on the decoder, generally I know what they are and 30 plus years of knowing the weak points. So please just keep your opinion to yourself, unfortunately I find your attitude very offensive. I also compare those with the decoders that give me no issues.

This morning I went ito their webpage and they were out of stock, then suddenly they had 4, so I ordered one to go with hopefully the one I get from Hattons. I get the opinion they are completely screwed up. Yesterday I was getting adverts about them and when I double clicked on the link I got a webpage error.

It probably does have motor overload protection, but I think it has issues with heat disapation when it goes into overload, which eventually kills it. At least three of my TTS decoders have died because of motor overload, twice when the motor capacitor went short circuit and I suspect that was the reason my HST one died. I think the Taiwanese one disabled the drive, flashed the front lights (if they were connected) until you reset the DCC.Unfortunately, I am not brave enough to test it out on a TTS decoder, I have sent far too many of them back to Hornby. The reason I know about the Taiwanese one, was I converted my Triang EM2 to DCC and that was the only one that would handle the current. Either way, I am incredibly careful how I fit TTS decoders, making sure they have adequate air flow over them and sufficient insulation so they don't "short out" on any metal parts. I would have liked to fit them to some of my old Lima locos, but that is a risk I don't want to take.

I frequently complain about this, try getting a base plate for a 0-6-0. I don't know if it is improving a bit, I did manage to get a whole powered bogie for a class 66, which I was amazed about. Just as a comparison, my Bachmann Sir Nigel Gresley broke a part of its valve gear, it has got to be 20 to 30 years old, but I have converted it to DCC, it runs well and is reasonably well detailed. Anyway, I thought no chance of getting spares, so I mailed Bachmann just in case. Surprise, surprise they had the parts and apologised that they didn't have many spare parts for those models left.The thing that really annoys me about Hornby is that they don't keep spares of the things that they know will break (eg) pickups, valve gear, couplings on Pendulinos. The trouble is if you cannot fix the old ones their resale value will eventually plumet.

I have never used Hornby points, but it is nothing new for Peco points. After being on the layout for a little while they become very brittle.

Usually it is not only the size of the decoder that matters it is also how much wire it has on it that seems to make a big difference. The Hornby decoder would probably fit into a lot of locos but generally you cannot accomodate the wire. The Rocket it appears to me is probably one of the few locos where they did actually put some thought into getting a decoder to fit, sadly not one of their own, but at least they tried. On a lot of their locos I get the opinion the socket was put in as an after thought (try the Adams). As to the decoders, I found there are better ones with a higher spec. for roughly the same price, but I have found that with many of the well established brands. TTS decoders are good value for money, but in my opinion seem to have reliability issues. I get the opinion a lot of it is to do with heat transfer, or lack of it and some undocumented features. A lot of the more modern decoders have current limiting, even a cheap one I bought from Taiwan had it, so it is a little more difficult to kill them, again sadly a lot of the established manufacturers decoders don't seem to have this. You would have thought Hornby would be addressing this issue with some urgency, as a lot of die hard Hornby users would naturally try fitting them to their old locos, that draw considerably more current.

I had noticed that with Jadlam with something else. There is a dealer outside York that regularly ups the price of hard to get Skaledale and Bachmann buildings. Funny though quite often they are very competative for locos. I have bought quite a few off them. I think they call it supply and demand.

I am amazed I didn't believe you when you said a 6 pin Hornby decoder is £10.00 dearer than a 4 pin one, I find that amazing. I think if you expand your search, you will find you can get a non Hornby 6 pin decoder for the same price as a 4 pin one.

Ok, this up to debate but I would use a 6 pin in the fact that it gives you more choice of decoders. The other thing is I found with my 0-4-0 can motors that they were awfully near the maximum current rating of the Hornby decoder, although someone on this site said that they work alright in his locos.

If it is any help there is a guy on EBay that does brilliant stone ones. I use them to support all my bridges.

Given that their catalogue seems to be partially a list of "nice to haves" perhaps they haven't got them in yet, but are expecting them very soon. So if you order one off their site you will get it when they come in.

If the loco is motor driven then the only thing I can suggest is check there isn't a capacitor across the motor. These sometimes go short circuit and take the decoder with them or it might just be a duff decoder. I am sure I had one that did this in the past, so it is not unusual. I think it is a return to Hornby case. Email them for a repair number unless you can return it to the person you bought it off. They don't seem to be the most reliable of devices, I can understand when I do something stupid to damage them, but I seem to had quite a few that have had issues when all I had done is fitted them into a perfectly functioning loco (normally one that has a DCC decoder in it previously).

PWM should be ok, the input stage of the decoder has a capacitor across the rectified input stage so it should see DC. So as long as the PWM is the right voltage should be no issue.

Sorry are you talking about the spring? If so no glue, I will to go and have a look, but I very rarely use glue, it always seems to eventually fail. I think I just fitted between the screw, I do remember spending a little while getting the length quite right.

If your Bachman Class 158 has the sound card fitted, I would expect you to gt some sounds. Bachmann tend to use LokSound modules and I have absolutely no experience of them on DC. I do know the Zimo ones work on DC as before I had got into DCC, I had a Schools Loco that made noises on DC. I would assume LokSound ones do the same, but as I say I don't know.

It is going to have to be one of the expensive ones LokSound or Zimo. If it was a steam train or diesel with wagons these sound good, if just want a noise and they are relatively cheap compared to the others. http://www.train-tech.com/index.php/sound/sfx-sound-capsules I don't think there is anywhere to fit one in a Class 158.